Africa’s Giant Eye

When visiting the Northern Cape, make sure you make your way to the Southern African Large Telescope – the largest single-optical telescope in the southern hemisphere.

Image courtesy the SALT Foundation

The universe holds many secrets, and no, I’m not talking about other life species, should you believe they exist. I’m talking about what our eyes fail to see ... and with a little help from the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) near the small town of Sutherland in the Northern Cape, some of these mysteries are explained.

This telescope can detect the light from distant objects in the universe that are a billion times too faint to be seen with the naked eye.

SALT gives astronomers the opportunity to study and analyse the lifecycle of stars, as well as other interesting features of our galaxy. The 11m telescope is referred to as 'Africa’s Giant Eye' and can record distant stars and galaxies.

Tours of SALT are available, and include guided walks through its visitor centre and information on selected research telescopes. Visitors will also get a chance to see stars and galaxies that cannot be seen with a normal telescope by using telescopes adjacent to the visitors' centre. Tours need to be booked in advance to avoid disappointment.

Image taken outside SALT. Image courtesy Bruno Letarte

Visitors will get a chance to see the primary mirror of the telescope. Image courtesy Bruno Letarte

Modal title

Email address

Full name

Twitter handle

Blogger's website

Your chance of being chosen as a #MeetSouthAfrica blogger will be much higher if you create a social profile on Webfluential - this allows us to see just how influential you are. Click submit to continue to Webfluential

Email Address *

Full name *

Company name *

For your travel company to be part of the #MeetSouthAfrica Blogger trips, you need to be registered on the South African Travel Directory. If you are, well done! If not, please register your company. You will be redirected as soon as you click submit.